Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Alameda Runners recently caught up with Selle Italia, a well known cycling saddle maker, in an effort to figure out if purchasing a quality saddle really matters.

It’s clear that having a good quality bike saddle is necessary for comfort while riding, but many people never bother to upgrade from the stock saddle. When it finally comes time to see what’s out there, it can be extremely difficult to make the right choice when shopping around.

Here is a tip from Selle Italia about choosing the right saddle (maybe even cost effective?) for casual riders:

“A saddle with a long rail and flexible base but with a synthetic cover is acceptable for someone that is going to ride an hour but may find the same saddle not adequate for rides of 2 hours or longer. SELLE ITALIA is offering a lower priced saddle assortment using their high end technology under the SPORTOURER brand. The product assortment is focused on those riders that want a little more “flex/padding” and are quite comfortable for casual cyclist. Retail for the SPORTOURER brand is between $40 and $90 (w/leather cover).”

Also of note, the Selle Italia representative that helped us also shared his own commuting tale:

“I ride the SPORTOURER ZOO GEL FLOW on my commuter bike and find it comfortable for the 3.5 mile jaunt from home to work. Many people find the FLX series (men and lady specific) to be very comfortable because it has a lot of padding but I find it has too much padding for my riding. Note – SPORTOURER saddles are not lightweight using FeC Alloy (high carbon steel) rails, elastomer suspension and lots padding that all add weight to the saddle.”

Alameda Runners will have a full interview with Selle Italia posted soon, with a stronger focus on saddles for road, mountain and triathlon bikes.